FREE Checking System: if you get a job offer that sounds too good to be true, please email us at info[at]oil-offshore-marine.com and we will investigate and check if that job offer is a scam or not, and if the job offer was made by a real, good-faith, company.

!!! This information is Oil Offshore Marine's Research Work and it is protected by exclusive copyright; you can of course read it [that's why it's here, for the general benefit] but you cannot copy it and use it without our written authorization. If you wish to take any information and use it for online websites or printed materials, all you need to do is send us an email and we'll authorize you, free of charge, to use it; we will issue a written authorization - lacking a written authorization from Oil Offshore Marine, you are simply breaking the copyright laws and you shall be liable to us for copyright infringement and any damages. [If you copy this without Oil Offshore Marine permission, you just made the mistake to think we can't track you down... after all we've traced untraceable job scammers; so just be smart for your own good]

The common sense rule: when something is too good to be true, then it most probably is NOT true. Remember this and you will be just fine.

Answers: First of all, what is a job scam? Probably most of you already know the answer, but for those who don't, here is an explanation: a job scam is a form of FRAUD where certain persons (scammers), posing as recruiters (agencies) or as employers offer really attractive employment opportunities (which seem too good to be true); subsequently, the jobseeker (candidate looking for a good job) is required to pay them [the scammers] money in advance, usually under the guise of work visas, air travel expenses, and out-of-pocket expenses.
Usually, the job scam form is called Advance Fee Fraud or 419 Fraud.

Answers: A scammer attempts to gain his victim's [the victim is the jobseeker] confidence in order to extract personal information such as full name, bank account details, credit card details, PayPal information, Social Security Number (SSN), driver's license, birth date, home address, or any other personal data.

a) Look at the company name. Is it saying anything to you? Have you heard of it before?
b) Does the domain name match the name of the company?
c) Ask your friends and colleagues if they heard of that company.
d) Google it. Yahoo it. MSN it. Run a search and see if the same company has been involved in job scams or if other people say that company has been scamming others.
e) See what country that company pretends to be working in. Then call or email the Embassy of that particular country and ask them if they know anything of it.
f) Ask that company if you need to pay anything in exchange for their service. If first they say no and then, after some time, say you must pay for visa, work permit or for travel, it's a fake company and behind it are job scammers!
g) Ask that company to provide you copies of their incorporation certificate or proofs of Government registration, or VAT number.
h) And finally, be advised that most fake companies acting as scammers "offer" scam jobs in areas such as Africa (Nigeria being the most famous case), Middle East, Asia, even South America. To a much smaller extent, even US or Western Europe.

Remember! We provide a FREE Checking System: if you get a job offer that sounds too good to be true, please email us at info[at]oil-offshore-marine.com and we will investigate and check if that job offer is a scam or not, and if the job offer was made by a real, good-faith, company.

Answers: There are several methods you can use to determine whether a recruiter or employer is real, and acting in good faith. Generally speaking, if you are made a job offer by a company to whom you never applied before and, still, they make you a job offer without even having interviewed you, that is a clear job scam. But let's see some possible scenarios:

a) First of all, look at the web address from which the pretended recruiter or employer send the email. For instance, let's you get an email from "Shell UK ", but when you look in the From: field, you see this "Shell UK" - "[email protected]". If this is the case, it is clearly a job scam. Why? Because real companies, acting in good faith never use free email providers (such as Yahoo!, AOL, MSN, GMAIL and so forth).
b) Second, let's say you get an email from a so called Xaturnico Oil Company. The email comes from "Xaturnico" - "[email protected]". So far so good, there are high chances that the company exists, and the domain name (xaturnico.com) matches the company's name, Xaturnico. Also, the domain xaturnico.com is valid, working, uploaded on hosting and the company has a web presence (no "currently under construction" appears). Now you need to dig further - read the email, see what they are saying. If they use fancy words, and make you a job offer with a very high salary comparing to your current salary or to the market rates, or if they are asking for an advance payment (either by PayPal, check, wire transfer or other form), or if they are asking you to forward them any personal information (such as credit card information, bank account details, etc), that is a job scam! DO NOT send them any payment, and do not provide them with any personal information.
c) Third, let's assume you get an email fro Wakutty Oil. The email comes from "Wakutty Oil" - "recru[email protected]". There are high chances that the company exists, and the domain name (wakutty.com) matches the company's name, Wakutty. Also, the domain wakutty.com is valid, working, uploaded on hosting and the company has a web presence (no "currently under construction" appears). They are rather smooth, they don't ask anything from you, you exchange emails with them, everything is ok, then, after 2 weeks (or, if they are very patient, after 2 months), they suddenly say they need an advance payment (either by Paypal, check, wire transfer or other form), or they are asking you to forward them your personal information (such as credit card information, bank account details, etc), that is, yes, a job scam. DO NOT send them any payment, and do not provide them with any personal information.
d) In order to gain your trust, these scammers / fake companies might even say they need your medical information, previous employment status, and so forth. Do not disclose this information to anyone you do not know and whom you cannot check (either in person or by official ways).
e) There are other scenarios we have yet to hear of. Stay cautious! Email us if you hear of anything new, so we can put it here and benefit others.

Remember! We provide a FREE Checking System: if you get a job offer that sounds too good to be true, please email us at info[at]oil-offshore-marine.com and we will investigate and check if that job offer is a scam or not, and if the job offer was made by a real, good-faith, company.

Answers:
a) Do NOT reply to the email.
b) Do NOT reply to the email; once you reply, even to tell the sender you are not interested, they will keep emailing you.
c) Do NOT disclose any personal information to anyone.
d) Do NOT send money to anyone.
e) Send us information regarding that company/scammer so that we can add it to the list of job scammers & fake companies (see below).

So far, throughout our extensive search, it has been proved that the below are job scammers – fake companies - fake shipping agencies - fake employers - known charlatans:

!!! This information is Oil Offshore Marine's Research Work and it is protected by exclusive copyright; you can of course read it [that's why it's here, for the general benefit] but you cannot copy it and use it without our written authorization. If you wish to take any information and use it for online websites or printed materials, all you need to do is send us an email and we'll authorize you, free of charge, to use it; we will issue a written authorization - lacking a written authorization from Oil Offshore Marine, you are simply breaking the copyright laws and you shall be liable to us for copyright infringement and any damages. [If you copy this without Oil Offshore Marine permission, you just made the mistake to think we can't track you down... after all we've traced untraceable job scammers; so just be smart for your own good]

!!! This information is Oil Offshore Marine's Research Work and it is protected by exclusive copyright; you can of course read it [that's why it's here, for the general benefit] but you cannot copy it and use it without our written authorization. If you wish to take any information and use it for online websites or printed materials, all you need to do is send us an email and we'll authorize you, free of charge, to use it; we will issue a written authorization - lacking a written authorization from Oil Offshore Marine, you are simply breaking the copyright laws and you shall be liable to us for copyright infringement and any damages. [If you copy this without Oil Offshore Marine permission, you just made the mistake to think we can't track you down... after all we've traced untraceable job scammers; so just be smart for your own good]

FREE Checking System: if you get a job offer that sounds too good to be true, please email us at info[at]oil-offshore-marine.com and we will investigate and check if that job offer is a scam or not, and if the job offer was made by a real, good-faith, company.

The companies listed below are ALL real, good-faith, existing companies who have an established track of international (and national) activities (as opposed from the fake companies indicated at 7. above); the scammers have used the below names on fake job offers (also called employment scams), scam attacks, and employment email spoofing. The full list of worldwide companies is available here

You may want to go through the Knowledge Library to read more details about some famous cases we werethe first to discover and write articles on.

Note 1: This list is, unfortunately, not exhaustive!Note 2: We are indicating ONLY companies and institutions that are related to the oil and gas, marine or construction industries! [yet, throughout our research we discovered scams from most, if not all, industries]

!!! This information is Oil Offshore Marine's Research Work and it is protected by exclusive copyright; you can of course read it [for your company's actions against fraud] but you cannot copy it without our written authorization. If you wish to take any information and use it for online websites or printed materials, all you need to do is send us an email and we'll authorize you, free of charge, to use it; we will issue a written authorization - lacking a written authorization from Oil Offshore Marine, you are simply breaking the copyright laws and you shall be liable to us for copyright infringement and any damages.